Viral videos have set off a wave of panic among Hindi-speaking migrant workers in Tamil Nadu – and a political war across states.
Over the past two weeks, several videos have been shared on social media purportedly showing migrant workers, especially from Bihar, being attacked and even killed in Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu police and state officials as well as fact checkers have pointed out that these videos are either of incidents that did not not take place in the state or are unrelated to the false claims being made.
However, influenced by the videos, some migrant workers are returning home out of fear, affecting economic activities in parts of Tamil Nadu, according to a few industry leaders.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has tapped into these claims of violence against Bihari migrant labourers to attack Bihar’s coalition government, saying it failed to protect them.
On March 4, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on March 4 condemned the rumours and said workers are safe in the state. The same day, the Tamil Nadu police booked BJP’s Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Prashant Patel Umrao and the editor of Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar for spreading false information.
The police have also filed cases against Mohammed Tanveer, a local journalist who runs the Twitter handle @TanveerPost, and Twitter user Shubham Shukla for posting false information.
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